[Editor's Note: How outrageous can it get? All vaccines are
damaging. Vaccine 'protection' is a lie and an illusion constantly repeated
by the drug industry and their PR minions, as is self evident in this article.
Hep B is a NON ISSUE and a non threat for school age children. It's utterly
bogus to proclaim a mandatory requirement for Hep B "protection"
when children of this age have ZERO exposure. Would this story have even
been written if ONE father didn't make a complaint about it? The comments
from Mary Hess, health specialist for Fort Wayne Community Schools, says
it all. She says that the school district will be sending warning letters
to parents to have their kids vaccinated BUT ""We probably won't
say anything about the fact we won't mandate it." (thank you Ms Hess,
dear government servant, drawing your salary from Indiana tax payers. How
reassuring it is to know that you are laboring in the "public interest").
This article is a typical gloss over of the dangers posed by vaccines (in
other words, 'there's nothing to worry about'). Notice that all parties
quoted, except for the concerned father, are state health officials who
you can rely on to be touting the party line. ..Ken]

Forward courtesy of Dr. Loretta Lanphier <LorettaLanphier@houston.rr.com>
("Another great reason to homeschool. This is ridiculous!")

New law requires hepatitis B shots Next year's 9th- and
12th-graders are targeted

A new [Indiana] state law requiring ninth- and 12th-graders to have a series
of hepatitis B vaccinations before the 2005-06 school year begins has school
officials wondering how the rule will be enforced and at least one parent
unclear about it. The new law is a quirky one: It's aimed at two specific
grades and will only be around until 2007, said Zach Cattell, legislative
director for the Indiana State Department of Health. It also is a law that
schools - by law - cannot enforce. As a subsection in state code of required
immunizations for schoolchildren, the law stipulates "a child may not
be prevented from enrolling in, attending or graduating from high school
for the sole reason that the child has not been immunized under this ."

"In all my time here, I've not ever seen an immunization
requirement drawn up like this," Cattell said.

Hepatitis B is a virus that attacks the liver. It can cause
lifelong infection and cirrhosis, or scarring, of the liver and is the cause
of 80 percent of all liver cancers. Hepatitis B virus - called HBV - is
spread when blood or body fluids from an infected person enter an uninfected
person through unprotected sexual contact, sharing of drug needles, through
accidental needle sticks or blood exposure on the job, or from an infected
mother to her baby during birth.

The new vaccine requirement is aimed at ninth-graders because
they were the students who just missed falling under the umbrella of the
1999 mandatory
hepatitis B vaccination law. In other words, all children who entered kindergarten
or first grade since 1999 have been required to have the series of three
shots, which are given within a six-month period of time. The shots are
routinely given to babies these days.

The next three senior classes are being targeted to ensure
they are protected before graduation. Next year's 10th-graders will be the
last class to receive the vaccine as seniors.

In 2001, the most recent year for which data is available,
an estimated 78,000 people in the United States were infected with HBV;
about 5,000 people die annually from HBV-caused illness. While there are
treatments, there is no cure for hepatitis B, which is why health officials
have stepped up prevention efforts.

Fort Wayne business owner Gary Osborn, who has one son entering
ninth grade and another one entering his senior year next fall, said the
letter he received from their schools informing him of the new requirement
was upsetting. Both boys attend school in Noble County.

"The letter sounded like the shots are mandated,"
he said. "They need to tell you that you don't have to get them."

Mary Hess, health specialist for Fort Wayne Community Schools,
said the district has been informing parents of the new rule in school newsletters
and will likely send parents of current eighth- and 11th-graders individual
letters.

As for the non-enforcement issue, "It worries me a little,"
Hess said, noting the district would probably send letters of deficiency
to the parents of ninth- and 12th-graders who haven't received the hepatitis
B series. "We probably won't say anything about the fact we won't mandate
it."

Hess said some private colleges are now requiring hepatitis
B vaccinations for incoming freshmen, although Cattell said it is not yet
the case at state-owned colleges and universities.

According to the 2003 Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey,
49 percent of Indiana high school students reported having had sexual intercourse
at least once, and nearly 40 percent said they were currently sexually active.

ISDH and other states are following recommendations of the
CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Cattell said. "The
main reason the
state health department is doing this is to make sure those kids, as they
move into the higher risk group, are vaccinated."

The virus

Unlike HIV, HBV can survive outside the body at least seven
days and still transmit infection, according to information from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people who become infected
with hepatitis B get rid of the virus within six months, developing only
an acute infection. But 10 percent develop a chronic, lifelong infection.
However, they might not have symptoms and become unrecognized carriers of
the disease.

According to the state, 59 cases of hepatitis B were confirmed
in Indiana in 2002, down from 77 in 2001, but Margaret Joseph, spokeswoman
for the
Department of Health, said the numbers reflect only acute cases.

"There's no way of knowing how many chronic hepatitis
B cases there are," she said.

The hepatitis B vaccine is one of the most expensive required
for children, costing at private doctor's offices anywhere from $52 to nearly
$90 per shot, according to several pediatric groups contacted by The News-Sentinel.

But Kelly Zachrich, executive director of Super Shot Inc.,
said all children through 18, even if they have insurance, can receive the
shots for free at any Super Shot site. Super Shot participates in the federally
funded Vaccines For Children program. Some private insurance companies cover
immunizations. The Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health also gives
the shots for free.

Osborn said he is still not convinced of the need and has
safety concerns about the vaccine. At one time, the vaccine contained human
blood parts and also a mercury-based compound called thimerosol, used as
a preservative.

But these days all components are laboratory-made, and thimerosol
is no longer used in single-dose childhood vaccines, according to the nonprofit
National Vaccine Information Center.

All information posted on this web site is
the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only.
It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor
can legally offer medical advice in the United States. Consult the healer
of your choice for medical care and advice.